Harkness Memorial and Seaside State Parks (Waterford)

Harkness Memorial State Park sits on Goshen Point in Waterford, with a rocky point for blackfish, bluefish and stripers and a sandy beach for fluke. Just west, Seaside State Park adds sand and gravel beaches, old stone piers and jetties. Together they front a stretch of water The Fisherman calls "albacore alley," which draws false albacore every fall.

When to fish

• Spring: schoolie stripers show early along this stretch; The Fisherman notes the Millstone power plant's warm outflow nearby draws bass from April.
• Summer: fluke off the beaches, and porgies, blackfish and winter flounder on the bottom around the rocks.
• Fall: the albie run from Millstone Point past Seaside to Goshen Point. False albacore usually reach the eastern Sound around the second week of September and can stay into early November. Look for diving terns and small, splashy blitzes on autumn mornings. Blackfish are a fall target too.

Where to fish

• Harkness's rocky point: blackfish, bluefish and striped bass.
• Harkness beach: fluke. There's no swimming here, and fishing is allowed along the beach.
• Seaside's beaches and stone piers: plug for bluefish and bass, or bottom-fish for porgies, blackfish and winter flounder. Most of the old stone piers are underwater at high tide and very slippery.
• By boat: cast plugs across the small rips at the Seaside jetties at dawn and dusk, drift the sandy bowls between the jetties for porgies and flounder, anchor on rocks in 15 to 30 feet for blackfish and porgies, and drift the edges of the deep Two-Tree Channel for fluke at slower tides. You can't fish from shore at the Millstone plant, and boats must stay outside the buoys on the intake side.

How to fish it

For albies, The Fisherman's writer runs and guns with small casting metals and soft-plastic jerkbaits, and notes the stretch is sheltered from fall's northwest winds. For bass and blues around the jetties, start casting above the small rips and let the lure swing across the current like fleeing bait.

Getting there

Harkness parking is free for Connecticut-registered cars, and out-of-state vehicles pay a fee; the grounds are open until sunset. The Fisherman's 2020 piece put Seaside parking on the left side of Seaside Drive. A Connecticut marine waters fishing license is required. Harkness is an Enhanced Opportunity Shore Fishing site, with lower minimum sizes for fluke and scup; Seaside isn't. See the Connecticut Saltwater Fishing Guide.